Black Clover movie release date confirmed after delay, Sword of the Wizard King to debut on Netflix and movie theaters [Trailer]

Black Clover movie
The Black Clover movie was officially confirmed to be in production in late March 2021. Pic credit: Studio Pierrot

The Black Clover movie release date is confirmed to be on June 16, 2023.

On that day, the Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King movie will be streaming internationally on Netflix and it will also be released in Japanese movie theaters.

The film was originally scheduled to be released on March 31, 2023, which was exactly 2 years after the anime TV series ended. However, on February 17, 2023, Netflix officially confirmed that the Black Clover movie was delayed until later in the year.

Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King trailer PV 1 features the theme song music “Here I Stand” by TREASURE.
Black Clover Movie 2023
A key visual for Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King movie was released on December 7, 2022. Pic credit: Netflix

This announcement is quite a shock since an anime movie has never had a worldwide premiere on the same day as the premiere in Japanese movie theaters. It should be noted that the official announcement specifically calls for a Roadshow release schedule in Japan, which typically means that a film will only be featured in a limited number of movie theaters in only a handful of major Japanese cities.

Since the film is streaming on Netflix it seems unlikely that there will be a Black Clover movie USA release date in theaters. Presumably, a Black Clover movie English dub will be produced in-house and released by Netflix.

Netflix’s Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King trailer.

The official title is Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King. The Black Clover movie story summary hasn’t been released yet and the October 2022 trailer didn’t provide many hints beyond the fact that it’s “the never-before-seen story of the wizard king”.

The original story is being supervised by original Black Clover creator Yuuki Tabata, so the film will not adapt a canon manga story arc and Black Clover Season 5 should pick up the story again in the Spade Kingdom war arc.

The story will apparently focus on a previous Wizard King named Conrad (or Konrad), who will be voiced by Toshihiko Seki. He’s best known for voicing Muzan in Demon Slayer and Umino in Naruto. (The English dub voice actor hasn’t been announced yet.)

Julius Novachrono is the 28th Wizard King. It’s been over 500 years since Prince Lemiel Silvamillion Clover, the First Wizard King was turned to stone. In the past, Tabata has confirmed that there have also been female Wizard Kings (Wizard Queens?).

It’s unknown if Wizard King Conrad will be part of a flashback or resurrected/reincarnated by the undying ritual. If it’s the latter, the new Black Clover character could be a villain rather than a beloved previous Wizard King of the past from Clover Kingdom.

Wizard King Conrad
A leaked visual of Wizard King Conrad from the Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King movie. The character design was made by the original manga creator. Pic credit: Yuuki Tabata/Weekly Shonen Jump

On October 2, 2022, the official Black Clover Twitter celebrated the anime’s 5th anniversary by stating that more information about the Black Clover movie will be released soon, or “within about a week”.

The official announcement was made by Netflix on October 6, 2022. But this information was leaked early when images from Weekly Shonen Jump Issue 46, 2022 went online.

Black Clover movie release date confirmed
The Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King release date was confirmed by this leaked image. Pic credit: Weekly Shonen Jump

The Black Clover film was first officially confirmed to be in production back in early 2021. On March 13, 2022, a Black Clover movie trailer preview celebrated the manga’s 7th anniversary and officially announced that the film was coming out in 2023.

The initial announcement of the film was made by a Black Clover movie trailer preview released on March 28, 2021.

“Jump’s magical battle fantasy manga Black Clover, the anime that has been ranked number one in viewership in 87 countries and regions, is finally getting its first movie adaptation!” the Black Clover trailer stated. “To celebrate the film adaptation, a special PV featuring Mr. Hiroki Tabata has been released! Challenge and victory. The boy’s story will continue to expand!”

Based on the history of the series, it’s likely that an actual Black Clover movie trailer showcasing the film’s new story will be featured at Jump Festa 2023, which will take place in December 2022.

Black Clover Movie
A key visual for the Black Clover movie was released within days of the initial announcement. In addition, the announcement in Weekly Shonen Jump was accompanied by art celebrating the 6th anniversary. Unfortunately, the key visual for the Black Clover movie didn’t give any hints about the story. Pic credit: Studio Pierrot

On March 9, 2022, scanned copies of an upcoming manga magazine were leaked. The pages revealed the Black Clover 2023 movie release date.

The time frame also makes sense based on the confirmed information about the studio’s production schedule.

Black Clover Movie announcement
This page from the magazine revealed the Black Clover movie’s 2023 release time frame in addition to information about the game. Pic credit: Weekly Shonen Jump

Presumably, the Black Clover movie will be produced by animation Studio Pierrot, which is well known for Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and then its successor, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.

Studio Pierrot also animated the Tokyo Ghoul anime series and the 2020 Akudama Drive anime. The Kingdom Season 3 anime returned in 2021 after being delayed by COVID-19.

As for 2022, the Kingdom Season 4 release date and the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War release date are both in 2022. Both anime projects are major commitments since the TV shows will be multiple cours.

Black Clover Yuno
During Jump Festa 2022, a new commemorative visual was released for Yuno in order to pair with the previous Black Clover movie visual for Asta. Jump Festa 2022 took place on December 18 and 19, 2021. Pic credit: Studio Pierrot

The staff for the Black Clover movie is currently unknown. For the anime TV series, as of Episode 153 Director Tatsuya  Yoshihara was replaced by Ayataka Tanemura. Series composition writer Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (Is The Order A Rabbit?) was replaced by Kanichi Katou.

Artist Itsuko Takeda is the character designer. Composer Minako Seki is creating the music.

Anime-only audiences should be careful watching the Black Clover movie teaser trailer. It shows brief flashes of story events from the most recent manga chapters.

Since the anime TV series was quickly catching up to the manga it became necessary to either take a broadcasting break or resort to filler arcs. It’s rare that anime fans enjoy filler, never mind when filler is inserted into the middle of a major story arc.

  • Updated December 7, 2022: Added Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King movie key visual.
  • Updated October 5, 2022: Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King release date in March 2023 confirmed.
  • Updated October 3, 2022: Black Clover movie announcement planned.
  • Updated March 22, 2022: Black Clover movie trailer released.
  • Updated March 9, 2022: Black Clover 2023 movie release date confirmed.
  • Updated December 19, 2021: Added Black Clover movie Yuno visual.
  • Updated March 30, 2021: Added Black Clover 170 announcement video.
  • Updated March 29, 2021: Added Black Clover movie key visual.

This article provides everything that is known about the Black Clover Movie and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.

Black Clover Asta
One of the poster spreads released in Weekly Shonen Jump. Pic credit: Weekly Shonen Jump

It’s odd that the Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King release date is in March 2023

Netflix has officially confirmed the exact Black Clover movie release date. However, the Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King release date was leaked online on October 5, 2022.

The Black Clover movie announcement was initially made by Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on March 28, 2021. Shueisha has stated that it will reveal more information about the movie project in October 2022.

The anime production committee chose a fairly odd time for the premiere in movie theaters. November-December and May-July are typically considered the best timing for a tentpole film to have a chance at being a blockbuster premiere whereas January and February are considered the “dump months” for bad movies.

But the timing of the Black Clover movie release date seems to be based on the fact that Netflix is streaming Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King worldwide on the same day. As such, they seemingly chose a time frame that won’t be competing with big names in Japan yet the premiere date is outside the normal dump months.

Still, it’s odd that the Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King release date was not scheduled for Spring/Summer 2023 (or May to July 2023). As a comparison, the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie release date and the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train premiere were both in Winter, which resulted in high box office success.

Black Clover Movie Poster
The official Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King poster. Pic credit: Netflix

Black Clover movie USA release date predictions: Limited theater release unlikely?

Funimation’s Black Clover English dub has been a Simuldub. In early March 2022, Sony announced that Funimation content would be merging into the Crunchyroll streaming app. It’s uncertain whether the Funimation brand will be phased out completely or if Funimation Films will still be used for marketing theatrical releases to prevent confusion with the streaming platform.

Since Netflix is streaming the Black Clover movie, it’s uncertain whether Crunchyroll or FUNimation Films will be involved in the Black Clover movie USA release date and the dubbed version of the film.

Typically, FUNimation Films will release dubbed versions of anime movies within a month of the Japanese premiere. But since even the Japanese movie release schedule is a Roadshow it seems very unlikely that this will happen unless there is a public outcry from American anime fans demanding a limited theater showing.

Therefore, if there is a limited theater release outside of Japan, it’s predicted that the Black Clover movie US release date will be in early Summer 2023.

Black Clover anime TV show announcement likely in 2023?

In early February 2021, the official website for the anime series announced that the Black Clover Episode 170 release date will mark an ending for the TV show. On March 30, 2021, the final episode made an “important announcement” concerning the future of the anime series, which turned out to be the Black Clover movie.

The Black Clover announcement on March 30 at the end of Black Clover Episode 170 was just an animated version of the key visual released for the Black Clover movie.

So far, it’s unknown if the Black Clover Season 5 anime TV series will release at a future date.

Thus far, the Black Clover anime TV series has been releasing new seasons every year without any major breaks. (Unless you count the hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but that’s a special case.)

Black Clover Movie
The Black Clover movie announcement was made by Weekly Shonen Jump Issue 17, 2021 on March 28, 2021. Pic credit: Weekly Shonen Jump

Black Clover Episode 170: Distant Future ended by adapting manga Chapter 272. Story summary:

“Due to the spell Nacht used, the devil who gave power to Asta until then has now shown up. To master the power of the devil, Asta must make the devil give in after battling and defeating him. Suddenly, Asta does something especially crazy.

“Meanwhile, Yuno, Noelle, and the others are trying to get even more power in order to take their revenge against the Dark Triad. To get back Yami and those who were taken away, to save the world from the threat of the devils, a new story begins now!”

When the Black Clover movie announcement was initially made the manga was only up to Black Clover 287. By March 9, 2022, the manga was up to Black Clover 326.

Hopefully, an announcement concerning the continuation of the Black Clover TV show will take place in 2023. Stay tuned!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
1
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x